Preview: Crystal Palace v Southampton

1 September 2018

Both Palace and Southampton recovered from successive league defeats by advancing into the Carabao Cup third round with 1-0 wins and much-changed teams.

The Eagles have historically struggled against the south-coast club, winning just three of the last 19 top-flight meetings between the sides, but encouragingly those have all come in the last six encounters. They also have the edge over Mark Hughes, who has managed six away Premier League matches against Palace and won none of them, with his teams losing the last four.

On their previous visit to south London, the Saints ran out 1-0 winners in Roy Hodgson’s first match in charge in September 2017, but have since won just 13 points in 18 away Premier League matches.

Saints' away woes continuing this season

The Saints defeated Brighton on Tuesday night thanks to a late Charlie Austin goal, but head to SE25 having won just two of their last 15 Premier League games. They are still searching for their first three-point haul of this campaign after a goalless draw against Burnley was followed by defeats against Everton and Leicester City.

Hughes’ team had led against the Foxes last weekend but Harry Maguire’s last-minute strike means they have dropped 24 points from leading positions since the start of last season, the most of any team currently in the division.

Their away form under Hughes has also been poor, with just one win gathered in their last six away games, which came at Swansea City in May.

View from the opposition

Mark Hughes: "They’re a very good side. Roy’s been there a decent amount of time and you start to see his imprint and mark on the team. Roy’s teams will always be very disciplined and well drilled, and he sprinkles good talent within the structure of what he wants. It’s a good mix and a well-balanced team.

"Zaha looks comfortable in his surroundings. It’s difficult to stop him in full flight because he has that technical ability. I think the key is stopping him getting the ball in the first place, but then when he is in possession you’ve just got to try to keep him away from the danger areas."

Team news

Palace: Roy Hodgson will continue to assess James Tomkins after he withdrew from the starting XI against Watford during the warm-up due to a calf issue.

Aaron Wan-Bissaka has served his one-match suspension, so is eligible for selection. Connor Wickham and Scott Dann remain sidelined.

Southampton: Summer signing Danny Ings is being monitored after he picked up a bad blister on his foot which has hampered him, so Carabao Cup goalscorer Austin could return to the starting line-up.

Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg is suspended after picking up a red card against Leicester last weekend, so Oriol Romeu, James Ward-Prowse and Steven Davis - the goalscorer in this fixture last season - could deputise.

Matchday officials

Martin Atkinson will be the man in the middle, which will see him officiate a game for the fourth successive weekend. He has shown nine yellow cards in his three previous matches this season.

Palace have won eight of the 18 matches he has overseen, including the last four which yielded wins over Watford, Hull City, Leicester and Stoke City. He also took charge of the 2013 Championship play-off final win over the Hornets.

Head-to-head

Matchday information

Ticket holders are advised to arrive early due to enhanced security checks, and Season Ticket Holders must bring their card. Fans are advised, as always, not to purchase tickets from touts or on online resale sites.

Find out more about the recent improvements to the matchday experience at Selhurst Park.

The matchday programme has a new look and size, and packed with great new content. This can be purchased in the following ways:

For a digital version (for mobile or desktop reading) priced at £1.49 or £24.99 for the season, you can purchase below:

Live coverage

If you can’t make it to Selhurst, then you can listen to the game live on our new Palace Audio service. Fans can buy a Season Pass for £39.99, a Monthly Pass (which auto-renews) at £4.49, or a 24-Hour Pass for a single matchday for £1.49 – more information.

There will also be updates on Twitter, and free highlights available on Palace TV and the official app from midnight on Sunday morning.